Hunt of the Sea Wolves

The Moscow Times

Crew members of the Arctic Sea cargo ship joked that they had disappeared into the Bermuda Triangle and been fed ice cream by pirates as they returned home to their families in Arkhangelsk on Sunday.

But the 11 sailors, who were greeted by relatives as they stepped off a train from Moscow, refused to shed any light on what had happened between July 24, when their ship was purportedly seized by hijackers near Sweden, and their rescue off the western coast of Africa by the Navy on Aug. 17.

The sailors also would not discuss their subsequent two weeks in Moscow, where investigators questioned them and only allowed them to contact relatives Thursday.

“The ship was in the sea, in the Bermuda Triangle, and the pirates fed us ice cream,” a sailor said in response to reporters’ questions about the ship’s mysterious disappearance, the Life.ru news portal reported.

Read entire story at The Moscow Times

Manila Bulletin

With dozens of Filipino sailors still in the hands of pirates, President Arroyo vowed Monday to work with the African Union to resolve the problem of piracy off the coast of Somalia to ensure the protection of the world’s seafarers and commercial shipping lanes.

During a three-day visit to Libya, the President expressed concern about the plight of Filipino sailors, who comprise one-third of merchant sailors around the world, as she feared for more pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden.

The President, in a statement before leaving for Tripoli shortly after midnight Sunday, said Africa has grown important to the Philippines, and the large continent’s peace and stability has direct impact not only “on our energy security but more importantly, on the safety and welfare of many of our overseas Filipinos, including our seafarers.”

“The East African monsoon is almost over, and we can expect a surge in pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia. Though many have been freed, over 200 Filipino seamen have suffered in the hands of pirates.

Read entire story at the Manila Bulletin

Syfi News

A traditional wooden ship with Indian crew sailing from the United Arab Emirates toward Bahrain was the target of the first act of sea piracy reported in Persian Gulf waters in years, according to details of the attack that emerged on Sunday.

The Bahraini dhow was intercepted on Friday night by another ship with an armed crew, security sources said.

The four pirates threatened the six-man Indian crew with guns and assaulted them before taking their cargo of fish and mobile phones, sources said. The crew members said they believed the pirates were Iranian, but their nationality could not be positively confirmed.

The Indian sailors were unharmed. They were released and arrived in a Bahraini port on Sunday.

The case represents the first time an act of piracy has been reported inside the Gulf since the issue of piracy again came to the forefront of international attention off the Somali coast in recent years.

In recent months Somali pirates had expanded their operations beyond the Somali coast line and the Gulf of Aden reaching areas as far as the east coast of Oman and the Arabian Sea.

According to figures from the London-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB), piracy attacks around the world more than doubled inthe first six months of 2009 with 240 cases being reported, up from 114 in the same period last year.

The IMB attributed the rise in piracy mainly to attacks off the coast of Somalia in the Gulf of Aden, southern Red Sea, east coast of Oman and Arabian Sea, where 148 out the 240 piracy attacks took place.

In July the Bahrain-based US Navy 5th Fleet Command warned against increased pirate activity off the Somali coast when the monsoon season ends.

The fleet had established a combined task force in January to conduct counter-piracy operations in and around the Gulf of Aden, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and Somalia basin.

NATO and European Union forces are also working in the area to combat piracy. Russia, China, and India also sent warships to the area to help protect and convoy vessels flying their flags.

Inquirer

An investigative report circulating online said the American military contractor Blackwater was training “mercenaries” of various nationalities, including Filipinos, at the Subic free port in Olongapo City.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Administrator Armand Arreza, however, quickly denied the story.

In a video story posted August 28 on the Russia Today website, American investigative journalist Wayne Madsen claimed Satelles Solutions, a Blackwater subsidiary, was using a five-acre facility in the former United States naval base to train operatives for secret US-backed military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and other hot spots.

Blackwater, founded by a former US Navy Seal

Read story at the Inquirer

MidDay

A whopping USD 150 million has been paid by ship owners as ransom to modern pirates of high seas from Somalia, in the last 18 months, for the safe return of over a 1,000 seafarers a majority of them being Indians.

Moreover, ICC International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Centre (IMB) report claims that piracy attacks around the world more than doubled to 240 from 114 during the first six months of the year, compared with the same period in 2008.

These disturbing facts came to light at a seminar held in Mumbai to address the issue of piracy and attended by ship owners, government agencies, ship managers, crew and NUSI, the National Union of Seafarers of India.

Mohit Kapoor, who organised the seminar, clubbed these stats with another report from The International Maritime Organisation (IMO), which estimates that only half of pirate attacks are reported due to fear of the ships’ reputation being marred, the chances of prolonged, time-consuming investigations and raising ships’ insurance premiums.

Read entire story at MidDay

Yemen News Agency

The Yemeni Coastguards police have said a U.S. warship thwarted on Thursday a piracy attempt against a merchant vessel called (thorncross) in the Gulf of Aden.

The media center of Yemen’s Interior Ministry quoted the police as saying that the Yemen Coastguards had received a distress call from a security protection team of the vessel that Somali pirates were approaching the ship in a skiff as it was 47 nautical miles off Yemeni coasts.

“A U.S. warship of international counterpiracy navies was patrolling the seas in the Gulf of Aden prevented the piracy attempt but the pirates could escape”, added the police.

BBC News

Eight men accused of hijacking the Arctic Sea cargo ship have been charged with hijacking and piracy, Russian prosecutors have said.

The men are suspected of seizing the ship and its 15-man Russian crew after raiding it disguised as police.

The ship vanished last month days after leaving Finland with a cargo of timber. The alleged hijackers, mainly from Estonia, were taken to Russia after the ship was found nearly three weeks later off the west coast of Africa.

Read entire story at BBC News

The Economist

GEORGE BUSH’S “war on terror” left America with a scarred reputation and many disturbing questions. Barack Obama has said that he wants to move forward, rather than look back. That is understandable. The new president has an ambitious agenda. Prising open the lid on previous mistakes might unleash a political hornet-swarm. But this week, with Mr Obama bunkered on Martha’s Vineyard, an ugly past roared into the present.

On August 24th the Department of Justice released a report on the CIA’s interrogation of detainees abroad, written by the agency’s internal watchdog in 2004. More important, Eric Holder, the attorney-general, directed a prosecutor to review whether interrogators may have broken the law. The announcement is part of a growing push to address past wrongdoing, by both the government and private firms. On August 28th a federal judge will consider a suit charging Blackwater, a security contractor, with war crimes. Mr Holder’s announcement may even herald a new era of accountability. Those hoping for speedy reckonings, however, will probably be disappointed.

Read entire story at The Economist

Virginia Beach Pilot

Somali pirates on Wednesday morning reportedly fired on a U.S. Navy helicopter as it did a routine surveillance flight over the vessel, according to a news release from U.S. Naval Forces Central Command Public Affairs in Bahrain.

The Navy SH-60B from the guided missile cruiser Chancellorsville, based in San Diego,  was not hit and the crew did not return fire, the news release said. The helicopter was flying over the Taiwanese-flagged motor vessel Win Far, which was captured by Somali pirates April 6.  It has since been used to conduct other known pirate attacks – most notably the container ship Alabama, owned by Maersk Line Ltd., a Norfolk-based shipping company.

Read entire story at Virginia Beach Pilot

Hijackers use ‘large caliber weapon’ in 1st attack targeting military aircraft

Maritime Global Net

AN EU NAVFOR ship and helicopter, in cooperation with a South Korean navy helicopter from CTF 151 have responded to an emergency call from a vessels identified only as the “ Southern Cross.” An EU NAVFOR statement says the attack was successfully thwarted by the Southern Cross herself. The EU NAVFOR Norwegian warship HNOMS Fridtjof Nansen subsequently boarded a suspect skiff in the vicinity. Equasis list an Italian-flag general cargo ship and a Japanese-flag bulk carrier under the the Southern Cross.

The statement says: “In the late morning of 26 August the EU NAVFOR Norwegian warship HNOMS Fridtjof Nansen received an emergency call form the Italian m/v Southern Cross that she was under attack from pirates. The Southern Cross was transiting the Gulf of Aden, some 80 nautical miles south of Al Mukkala.”

The Fridtjof Nansen and the helicopter of the South Korean warship Daejoyoung from CTF 151 responded directly to the situation. As Fridtjof Nansen and the helicopter approached, the skiff with five people on board, broke off the attack after having fired several shots at the Southern Cross’s bridge and escaped to the south.

The EU NAVFOR German warship FGS Bremen also launched her helicopter to join the search for the pirate skiff. In the afternoon the Bremen’s helicopter detected a suspicious skiff. The Fridtjof Nansen launched her fast RIBs with her boarding team and conducted a boarding. Weapons were seen thrown overboard. The skiff was released at dusk.